According to Banque Du Liban (BDL) statistics, the consolidated balance sheet of financial institutions operating in Lebanon narrowed by 6.80% ($104.71 million) during the first ten months of the current year to $1,434.63 million, down from $1,539.34 million at year-end 2018. This can be mainly attributed to the 46.66% ($43.98 million) contraction in claims on the non-resident financial sector to $50.28 million, coupled with some 7.82% ($25.96 million) drop in claims on the resident financial sector to $305.83 million, a 2.59% ($19.30 million) decrease in claims on customers to $725.55 million and a 10.78% ($12 million) decline in the value of the securities portfolio to $99.34 million. It is worth noting that claims on customers and on the resident financial sector are the two largest asset categories on financial institutions’ balance sheet, accounting for 50.57% and 21.32% of total assets on a respective basis. On the liabilities side, liabilities to the resident financial sector plunged by 22.79% ($84.90 million) in the first ten months of 2019 to $287.70 million, with the value of debt securities issued sinking by 29.78% ($44.39 million) to $104.69 million and liabilities to the non-resident financial sector slipping by 12.27% ($17.58 million) to $125.69 million, altogether outweighing the 4.50% ($21.06 million) increase in financial institutions’ combined capital accounts to $489.39 million, the 8.31% ($18.57 million) expansion in other liabilities to $242.12 million, and 2.26% ($4.03 million) rise in customer deposits to $182.08 million.